Studies show there are variations in haematological profiles with menopause. The study was aimed
at examining the effect of menopause on the red blood cell count, packed cell volume, haemoglobin
concentration and mean corpuscular volume among women in Zaria. One hundred and sixty five women
resident in Zaria, Nigeria were studied. Seventy seven of them were premenopausal women aged 20-35years
(mean age 25.51±5.21 years) who served as control while eighty eight of them were postmenopausal women
aged 40-65 years (mean age 53.59±0.65 years); the study group. Questionnaires were administered to the
subjects while blood samples were collected via venepuncture and analysed using an auto-analyser (Abacus
Junior Hematology Analyzer). Results were presented as mean±SEM while data was analysed using Student
t-test and ANOVA. Results were considered statistically significant with p<0.05.The mean red blood cell count,
packed cell volume and haemoglobin concentration of the postmenopausal women (4.29±0.93×106/μL, 37.63
±8.72% and 12.12 ±2.32 g/dL respectively) was lower than that of the control (4.39±0.52×106/μL, 38.87±5.04%
and 12.68±1.23 g/dL) but not statistically significant. However, the mean corpuscular volume of the
menopausal women was significantly higher in women who were >10 years menopausal (p<0.05). Hence,
menopausal women were found to have lower red cell indices with a predisposition for developing anaemia.
We thus recommend further studies to assess serum levels of vitamin B12 and folic acid in menopausal women.